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TechnoratiIt seems the conservative vs. moderate power struggle within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has yet to retire, even after 25 years of dissent and division. On December 4, 2004, a group of some two dozen retired chief executives of Southern Baptist entities gathered in Atlanta to declare support for the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), despite a denomination-wide decision earlier this year to sever ties with the Alliance.
Naming themselves “Advocates of the Baptist World Alliance,” the former SBC leaders met for one purpose: “to retain Southern Baptist participation in and support of the Baptist World Alliance.”
The headmaster of the rally was Duke K. McCall, a former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president and executive secretary-treasurer of the SBC.
“We function within Baptist freedom and the autonomy of every Christian church. The BWA has inspired and instructed world Baptists in their intention to be biblical Christian witnesses to our Savior Jesus Christ,” McCall, also a former president of the BWA, said.
The SBC has undergone tectonic shifts in power since the first conservative president took seat in 1979. In that short period of 25 years, conservatives successfully secured the presidency, made staff changes in the executive board, booted off moderate and liberal leaders from SBC-affiliated seminaries, and even made fundamental changes in the denomination’s faith statement. The clear success of the “conservative resurgence” forced moderates to branch into a separate entity called the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) – a more moderate fellowship of Baptist churches – by the early 1990s.
The conservatives’ power proved itself once again during the SBC’s 2004 Annual Meeting. At the meeting, the conservative leadership, led by Paige Patterson - one of the foremost architects of the conservative resurgence, convinced the nationwide messengers to quit membership from the BWA – a group Southern Baptists helped create 99 years earlier. Nearly two-thirds of the Southern Baptist messengers voted to sever ties with the BWA, which had by then been branded a “liberal” group with “abhorrent theologies.” The cessation of membership also meant a secession of funds – a big blow to the Alliance that had at one point received a quarter of its funding from the giant SBC.
Moderates decried the severance, pointing to several benefits to maintaining fellowship within the BWA.
During the recent meeting in Atlanta, the two dozen past leaders of the SBC – most of whom served during or before the conservative resurgence took place, reiterated the reasons to stay within the world’s largest alliance of Baptists.
"Southern Baptists are blessed by their BWA connection with believers who are zealous in evangelism. We need to strengthen this family tie for our own benefit,” McCall said.
According to a BWA press release by McCall, there were several points emphasized during the gathering:
“1. We are not in a battle with anyone.
2. We want to support Baptist organizations and churches that serve God and witness to Jesus as Lord.
3. We do not speak for or represent any group we may have served in the past, but we are individuals with a past history who speak and act on the basis of that past experience. Continue »
